Kpando, Ghana - July 2005

Submitted by James P. Guzek, MD

I arrived to Accra, Ghana on the evening of July 6, 2005 where I was met by Dr. Asante, the ophthalmologist at Margret Marquart Catholic Hospital (MMCH). On July 7, the two of us met with the head of the Ghana Eye Care Secretariat and with the Ghana representative for ophthalmology for the West African College of Surgeons. In the afternoon, we traveled to MMCH in Kpando which is in the Volta region of Ghana.

At MMCH, we did eye surgery on July 8, 9, 11 and 13. We saw patients in clinic on July 10 and 12. Many complex cases were operated. More importantly, I supervised Dr. Asante in performing many surgeries. During this visit, Dr. Asante and I performed 57 eye surgeries:

• Congenital / juvenile cataract surgery – 4

• Adult cataract / IOL  – 21

• Glaucoma surgery (trabeculectomy) – 10

• Other surgeries – 9

• YAG lasers – 8

On the evening of July 13, 2005 I attended the meeting of the Rotary Club of Ho where I was graciously received. During the meeting, I made a presentation on the causes of blindness in the Volta region. Possible joint projects between the Rotary Club of Ho and the Rotary Club of Tri-cities Sunrise (Washington State, USA) were discussed. Mr. Joseph Achana, the out-going president of the Rotary Club of Ho, suggested that we continue this dialogue by e-mail.

On July 14, after doing surgery, I traveled to Accra where we met with a representative of Sight Savers International. In the evening, I boarded a British Airways plane back to the USA.

Mensah Salomey’s story

Patient name: Mensah Salomey, age 6 years, MMCH # 1379/04

Salomey came to the eye clinic at MMCH in 2004 at the age of 5 years. Her parents reported that she had poor vision from age 1 year old. She would walk into objects, crawl in a zig-zag manner, and she was always left behind or isolated by the other children.

When the mother realized that Salomey was having vision problems, she took her to a traditional healer which costs very little but which gained her nothing. The family is poor and they had no money to travel to seek appropriate care. The mother appealed to family and friends for help, but no one came forward with suggestions or financial help.

One day, a team of eye care workers came to her village. They sponsored her transportation to the eye clinic at Margret Marquart Catholic Hospital in Kpando. There, she was diagnosed with bilateral congenital cataracts. Her vision was only Light Perception in each eye at that time. She was told that Dr. Guzek would be coming soon and that he could help.

On July 22, 2004, free cataract surgery was done on the right eye by Dr. James Guzek. The surgery was successful but the vision only improved to counting fingers at 1 foot. This allowed Salomey to walk around and even to find her way to school and back. The reason that the vision did not improve more was that the brain had never learned to use the eyes (lazy eyes).

On July 8, 2005, Salomey reported back to the eye clinic for surgery on the 2^nd eye. Dr. Guzek again performed the surgery. Surprisingly, this 2^nd surgery gave her even better vision than the first surgery. On the first day after surgery, the child could count fingers at 3 feet. She was very happy as was the mother. The vision is expected to improved further as she uses her sight. While it is not expected that her vision will ever be completely normal, the vision will hopefully improve enough for her to read large print books.

Salomey is optimistic that with both eyes operated, she will now be able to excel in school. She very much wants to get good grades in school. She says a big thanks to Rotary for sending Dr. Guzek to Kpando to help her.

Mensah with her mother

Closeup of  Eye with Grey Pupil

Mensah with her father immediately following surgery